I’m bored, and had nothing to do, so I googled my address. My husband and I live alone in a nice, small place.
To my surprise, Spokeo shows ten people living here. One is our daughter, five are the previous owners and their three kids (who never lived here, and the previous owners are dead), but the last two made me laugh. They’re our daughter’s chihuahuas, complete with asterisked-out names!
So Fido is down as Fo Lastname, and Rover is down as R*r Lastname.
I found that hilarious.
Other than those errors they have my husband and I correct, and our ages. So, 20% correct?
What’s the funniest thing you found in researching parts of your life other than googling your name?
Got our all family members, but some listed multiple times under “former” as well as both current and former. The previous homeowner is listed, of course. (It’s been several decades guys.)
But the odd one is R***** Lastname. Huh? Never been anyone of any species with that initial here. If I find him/her, gonna make 'em pay for a lot of past rent.
The first name is my daughter, followed by four names I’ve never heard of. On the second page my name finally shows up, as does my dad and my sister (our parents co-owned the house first with my sister, then with me for a while). There’s another K**** Lastname on the second page that could be either myself or my sister, no idea.
Apart from my husband and me, who are the only residents, it lists my ex-son-in-law, who moved out 6 years ago, my daughter, who moved 4 years ago, and the woman we bought the house from who moved 12 years ago and died 3 years ago…
Well, Spokeo estimates my current home value as 10% higher than what Zillow says it’s worth. If I ever sell, I’ll go through Spokeo.
Where I lived in San Francisco, it shows us as still being the current home owners. But that house was sold years ago.
Where I grew up in the northeast in the 60s and 70s, it doesn’t list my family as being prior owners. That’s going too far back to be useful information, I guess.
The strangest was when I registered with UPS and they asked “have you ever been associated with these names”
they listed my married name-- no big surprise, though I’d been divorced for over 20 years, my ex-husband’s legal name-- ok, and then the shocker, my ex-husband’s birth name which he has not used since 1952. That was a little creepy.
My parents used to receive junk mail addressed to a non-existent person with the same last name, but an odd first name that consisted of my father’s and mother’s first and middle initials strung together. We used to laugh about this. Now my parents are gone, but Peoplefinders shows my father and this odd-named person living at my current address (though none of them ever lived here). But I don’t get their junk mail any more.
Spokeo estimated ours 20% lower than the appraisal we got 5 years ago and 6% less than we paid for it 12 years ago. knowing what houses have been selling for in our zip code, I’m guessing they’re taking comps from nearby areas. Our little neighborhood is actually a very desirable area that lost very little value when the bubble burst. So I don’t trust Spokeo’s numbers at all.
Apparently one has to pay for the service for it to give you all its secrets, but it looks like it has three of the four people living here correct, although it doesn’t list my wife’s age and has my school age son listed as in his 30’s. This is a rental house that we’ve lived here for 3 years.
Tangentially related, is there a way to “disappear” from sites like Spokeo and Intelius? I would imagine there are many people—LEO’s, physicians, and lawyers just to name a few that immediately come to mind—would want to remain as unsearchable as possible. I seem to remember a thread about this a year or three back but a search isn’t turning up anything.
My house’s original description on Zillow was modified by the previous owners, who listed the lower floor as having a bedroom, a bonus room and a family room. It only has one big room. Call it what you like, just don’t pretend there are three of them!
There’s a tax preparer website that omits professional credentials I have, and gives me credit for ones that I don’t have. They invited me to pay a membership fee so that I could fix it.
As for Spokeo: Apparently, my wife (with a mis-spelled last name) is living with my brother and I’m merely a past resident. The other three “current residents” are also listed as past residents. In the list of nearby properties, it says that my neighbor has 42 current residents living there.
All that comes up are realty sites. Of interest to me is that our house is now valued at up to $200,000 more than we paid for it seven years ago. :eek:
Mine shows me listed twice once with the correct age and again with age 20 years younger. It shows someone named Billie. We do not nor have ever had a Billie related to us that we know of. It also says we only have one bathroom but we have two. It lists my hubby as the owner even though we are both owners. Not too accurate.
They know I exist, and they know I have a PO box in this town, but but they don’t seem to know my current physical address or any of my past physical addresses. In fact, they don’t seem to know my house exists at all even though they know about the neighbors’ houses. Of the four phone numbers they have on file, only one is a correct (but 15 years out of date) number for me. The other three have Illinois area codes, a state I have never lived in.
It listed not only me, but also my parents, who are long dead, and my brother, who only lived here from 1958-1960. And an unknown person with a first initial that doesn’t match anyone. Oh, and it names a sex offender in the neighborhood, who apparently is living under an alias.